Chapter 44
Dixie
Cold nerves tightened my belly on the slow approach to the Marchant mansion. Convict drove me and Mila, and the gates slid silently open on our approach.
Elsewhere, Heretic and Ash snuck into the grounds unseen. It should’ve helped to know I was so well protected, and that Tyler had people ready to extract him, but I only felt nauseated. An urge to turn around and run.
Coming here was so, so wrong.
At the door, I raised a shaky hand to knock.
Wallace opened it. Our uncle stared at me then Mila, finally wrinkling his nose at Convict. “You can wait out here, on this step where I can see you. Ladies, follow me.”
Mila turned to her boyfriend, worry in her eyes. He shrugged and stepped back, tipping his head for us to proceed without him.
The last thing I wanted to do was set foot in this place. I did it anyway.
Mila and I entered the chilly mausoleum I’d once called home. Marble floors, white everything. As a teenager, I’d thought it the height of class. Now I only saw a waste of money. Tyler’s cabin on the ridge with its worn leather sofa and scuffed wooden floor was a home in a way this never could be.
I’d give anything to go back there with him.
Wallace strolled down the hall to the bedroom suite, knocking on a pair of white double doors. Primrose’s room. The last place I’d seen her.
“Come,” she called.
He stepped back and made a gesture for us to go inside. I didn’t like this. It felt like a trap. How, I wasn’t sure. Primrose couldn’t hurt us, and we had backup.
Mila stepped into the room. I followed.
The door closed behind us with a click, and I jumped. Every nerve on edge.
Perched at a dressing table, Primrose calmly watched me. “At last, you’ve come home.”
I refused to soak in any detail. Not of the room, not of her.
“Where is he?” My voice trembled.
Primrose tipped up her chin. “Emilia, you can wait outside. I will talk to Darcy in private.”
Mila didn’t budge. Only reached for my hand.
“Tyler. Where is he?” I asked again.
Primrose’s silvered eyebrows crinkled. “Tyler?”
God, that wasn’t faked. Was it?
“My boyfriend. He’s missing, and you said you wanted to talk to me about something I needed. You have him.”
“I do not.”
Wild emotion tore through me. “Don’t play games with me. I can’t bear it.”
“When have you ever known me to gameplay? I said I don’t have this person and I do not. I do, however, have a granddaughter returned after so many years. Child, let me look at you.”
She rose and crossed the pale bedroom rug. A few steps from us, her foot caught on a crease. She stumbled. Instinctively, I reached for her.
Primrose steadied herself on my arm. Soft hands. Lined skin. “Thank you. My legs are not what they once were. Now, Darcy.”
I withdrew from her too-familiar touch. “It’s Dixie.”
“A stripper name. You will not use that here.”
Discomfort gave way to anger. “I’ll call myself what I want. After everything you put me through, you don’t get a say.”
Mila bit out, “You don’t control her anymore. How can you stand there and talk like that after everything you did?”
Primrose turned a short smile on Mila but ignored her words. “I must admit, I have longed to see the woman you became. I saw so much of myself in you. I did not expect you to be so degraded.”
She meant my job. Fuck her.
“I don’t have to hear this, hun. If you don’t have news on Tyler, I’m leaving.”
Turning, I stalked to the door and threw it wide, Mila with me.
At the end of the hall, Wallace lingered. Had he been listening? A thump sounded deeper in the house, and he jerked then disappeared into the shadows.
I stared after him, but my gaze caught on the large pictures that lined the walls. Ones I’d tried to forget about and hadn’t noticed on entry. A much younger Primrose, naked, and spread over furniture. Not entirely pornographic but not art either.
Behind us, Primrose called out. “You should hear me out. I mean to make you a proposal.”
I whirled around. “What could you possibly have to offer me? This family used me up and spat me out. I was hurt. Right here in this house. All you did was throw me away.”
The words should never have left my mouth, but they were out and ringing through the empty corridor.
Primrose moved to the doorframe, her steps slow but purposeful. There was no shock on her face. She knew. She. Knew.
It was the only thing that could’ve held me to the spot.
“If you’d stayed, worse could have befallen you. Austin did not respect anyone who slept around, and you would’ve been considered a fallen woman. I saw your path and I changed it. Don’t you understand?”
Slept around? “I never did that. You believed Denise and threw me out.”
“I made a choice and gained you freedom. Denise had already been in his ear about how you were wearing revealing clothes and using your body to gain male attention in his offices. He was worried that we’d made a mistake with you.
I had to find another way to keep you in the manner we’d raised you to. ”
No. I couldn’t believe it.
Primrose continued. “I moved you out of the line of fire the first time I saw you struck. I vowed to myself that if ever I saw Austin’s world harm you I’d ensure it never happened again. Exposure to adult men was a limit I should’ve put in place.”
“So you discarded me.”
“I returned you to your mother where you’d be safe. I paid her to continue your education.”
“She threw me out the minute I got back,” I croaked. Tears clogged my throat. “I had nothing and no one. I had to find work, and yes, I did it on my back. I’m not ashamed of what I had to do to survive.”
Disbelief played out over Primrose’s features. “No. That doesn’t make sense. She gave me reports.”
“She lied, and you played a part in it.”
I didn’t expect much. Not to be believed. But I caught the second it registered in her.
When tears lined her eyes. It shook something deep inside me.
My grandmother’s gaze rose from me to the pictures beyond. To her naked thighs and breasts, captured for all to see. “I would never do to you what was once my fate. Forgive me, I had no idea. I…”
She swayed and gripped the doorframe.
Mila gasped and lurched for her. I did the same. Together, we collected the woman who had tormented us both and helped her back into the bedroom.
On her white leather chair, Primrose took a moment to recover herself.
“Please, believe me, I would never enable the suffering of one I loved so much. My intent was only ever the opposite. I can prove it to you, if you’ll allow me.
I imagine this is as important for you as it is me.
” At my faint nod, she pointed from Mila to her lower dresser drawer.
“My diary. The one from ten years ago, if you will.”
Mila found a stack of white leather books, each stamped in gold with the year and Primrose’s name. I remembered her always having one of these. She’d make notes in it daily.
My grandmother flicked to a page. “Here, reference to a payment I made to your mother and notes from the phone call we had. ‘Darcy is taking exams and predicted high grades. The extra tutoring has paid off, though she needs more time with her maths tutor to be sure she grasps the topic. Additional fees sent.’ See? You were thriving, as far as I knew. I was so proud.”
My mouth dried. There was a number in black ink. More than enough to support us both. I hadn’t seen a penny. “My mother told you that?”
“Every month. She was truly convincing if you’re telling me you weren’t there.”
“I wasn’t. I never took an exam in my life.” I wanted to add how I’d been fucking men for money at that age, but too much had changed in how I saw her. My whole history altered to something different and built on a lie.
Strangely, I wanted to shield the elderly, frail woman from the worst of it.
I also needed to know what had happened to her. To the family business. Nothing was what it seemed.
Except my words had stalled.
Mila looked between us then took over asking the questions. “Grandmother, you said you wanted to spare Dixie from what happened to you. Did I understand that right? You were in some way hurt?”
Primrose shuddered and tore her gaze from us.
“I suppose you’re both adults now. You can know.
I was stolen, as a young woman. I don’t know who sold me.
Only that I was on a boat for a long time.
Austin was my rescuer. He found me in a storage container, fought the crew, and took me home. He claimed he loved me and kept me.”
I crammed my hand to my mouth.
Mila reddened. “You… God. I’m so sorry that happened to you.”
“It’s the most ancient of my history. I never wanted to tell you girls, but I see now how it would help to know my motivations.”
Mila trembled and reached for Primrose before stopping herself. “But… Since he died, we’ve discovered that he was involved in trafficking. How, after what you must’ve suffered, did he then turn to that trade to make money? I don’t understand.”
I shared her confusion. There were too many revelations that my head pounded.
Primrose nodded. “On the surface, Marchant Haulage was thriving. And it was. A rising force. So much charity work. But that was all cash write-offs. It didn’t cost him anything.
Payouts to the family did. That was the burden that forced his hand.
He overreached. Every bleeding heart, he vowed to heal, until he realised they were crippling him.
He told a few that he would have to reduce the payments, and that’s when they plotted against him. ”
Mila squinted then furrowed her brow. “Who? Wait, the acquaintance they had in common. Phylis Marchant-Smythe.”
“You were always so clever, Emilia. Phylis and her husband brought a man here who sold girls, then they recruited other members of the family to run a scheme.”
“The orange coded files in Austin’s family vault,” Mila mumbled.
Primrose nodded. “He created that to keep tabs on who knew and who didn’t. They were helped by Austin’s business friends.”
It was my turn to cut in. That day when I’d seen Rhys Jacobs here, others had been so, too. “The trusted companies.”
“The same. All of them greedy and prepared to walk over any human decency to make an income. Once Austin was in it, he couldn’t get out.”
Mila stared then dropped her gaze to her hands. “He didn’t want to do it.”
“But he made that choice,” I said.
She wanted to make him innocent. He wasn’t. No one could claim that.
“He did. I hated him for it.” Primrose sat taller, colour returning to her cheeks.
“They thought I buried him with gold because I cherished him. Instead, I sent him to his grave with the only thing he truly valued. Not human life. Not a moral way of living. Just the money he was willing to sacrifice anyone to get, and all because he couldn’t say no to a sob story. ”
Mila breathed harder. “The gold-lined coffin.”
Primrose smiled. “I’d wondered if anyone knew.”
Mila’s gaze fixed on Primrose, the same twisted emotions playing over her features that I felt all through me. “Since meeting Dixie, it made sense why you held me at arm’s length. Austin’s world hurt her, but you didn’t want to give up on the idea of an heir.”
“Why would I? Able is dead, Wallace is, well, you’ve seen his lack of ambition. Kane is stubborn and too like his father. The two of you were my treasures. You still are.”
We shared a look.
I had exactly zero idea of what to feel.
It had been in this room that she’d chosen to reject me. Yet that was twisted now, the memories all skewing with her words. I pulled my gaze to the soft bedspread. To the dresser and the hairbrush that I remembered her using on me. I hadn’t imagined the love.
“Why did you call me here?” I finally managed to ask.
“Because you came back. That’s for a reason. I can only assume you mean to vote with your sister and try to save Marchant Haulage.”
I stiffened. Mila cherished that company. Or, at least the good side of it. We hadn’t talked about saving it, but I sensed how badly she wanted to. Mila shot me a glance filled with emotion.
A fleeting smile crossed Primrose’s face. “I like that you have connected. It must feel nice to have a sister. I always wished for one.”
“I don’t understand Austin’s will,” Mila said. “Why give votes to the people he did and not other family members who’d vote with him? Surely he knew Wallace was against it, or did you both hide the hate?”
Primrose sighed. “He did what he had to. The business is his alone, which meant his legal heirs have rights. Our sons and our grandchildren. If he chose anyone else, the legal mire could tie up the business when you all challenged him. Remember his priority was always to keep it running.”
I couldn’t hold in a snap. “Seems the business was fucked anyway.”
“Don’t curse, child. It demeans you,” Primrose chided. “Let me move on to my offer. As you heard in the will reading, if you vote to close the company, you inherit nothing. That is no big tragedy. I have money. I can pay a reasonable amount to assuage the loss.”
Mila snorted. “Like you did Kane? And am I right in guessing that Wallace jumped ship? It sounded like it from his press conference outside the solicitor’s.”
Our grandmother tutted. “He is filled with fear, that boy. Kane and I will vote to purge the rot. You both will do the same. Wallace alone can claim the spoils of its shattered remains.”
“Why would we do that?” I asked. Not rough or cruel. Only curious now. Because I was certain more was going on than we understood. If there wasn’t, I’d have gone already. Looked elsewhere for the man I loved.
My belly crushed with worry for him.
Tyler was my future. With him at my side, I’d build a life at the warehouse. Help the ladies I loved to investigate the murders. Live a life of freedom.
Primrose centred her gaze on us. “Because,” she intoned, “the decay of Austin’s world will eat you alive if you don’t. I can’t and won’t see that happen to you. I would stand in front of my girls and protect you. I already have.”
“I don’t like how you protected Dixie,” Mila said.
“No, sweet girl. I’m talking about more recently.
With the bitch who helped put you in an auction.
” She smiled at Mila, a new light in her eyes.
“The red-nailed slut who came for Kane.” Lastly, she turned to me.
“And that male whore who tried to drag you back into the hotbed of sin. For the crimes of harming my grandchildren, all fell at my hands. I get what I want. After everything I suffered, it’s only what I’m due. ”
The Deadwater murders. The people killed by the neck, Esther, Karla, and Lex. There was no way it could be our silver-haired grandmother.
Two thuds sounded.
And suddenly I knew. Primrose hadn’t told us everything.